School Assignments: The Most Irritating Things
by wolfdragonful
Summary: Grimmjow was in a group with Ichigo and Uryuu. He has to star gaze and learn about navigating the old way. Naturally, the night before it's all due, his car breaks down.
1. Astronomy

**Disclaimer:**

This is not a real life story. Please do not expect the situation depicted in these pages to actually work out the way it does in this story. It is fictional though the ideas expressed in this story are fairly ideal considering the situation and the strange amount of how perfectly things work out in it. The idea that a Sextant should – let alone can – be used in any navigation that is not nautical is completely made up and not expected to actually work the way this is depicted.

Again, this story is fictional and not expected to have actually worked out if someone tried it in real life.

* * *

Grimmjow wasn't all that sure why he'd thought it would be a good idea to drive that night. A country road with hardly anything but miles of desert and nothing else surrounding it on a night when the sky was filled to the brim with only stars. Grimmjow had never really liked nights when there was no moon to speak of; they always held an eerie quality in the back of his mind. In northern Nevada, we happen to have what 'experts' call black skies.

He scoffed. The skies were hardly ever black as they claimed, the stars littering about the inky darkness of the sky like lightning bugs trapped in perfect synchronization. They never blinked, never really moved much in his mind and all seemed to stare at the people tauntingly. It was especially true in the virtually unlit areas between Battle Mountain and Belmont, Nevada. Then again, he distinctly remembered his two group mates claiming they'd have to make Spring break be real useful and go up to Umatilla Forest in Oregon or all the way to Canada's Wells Gray Provincial Park or Willmore Wilderness Park or Glacier National Park.

Then the nerd claimed that it would be less out of their way to just stay in state and stare at stars from a known black sky area. So they were stuck with the same old constellations, not that they saw many in Reno to begin with, and it was less out of the way than it should have been to simply stare at the night sky for unreasonable hours.

He rolled his eyes at the memory of the arguments between his two classmates, both planning on becoming doctors at some point. He really only saw one of them getting there since the other, the ginger, felt this strange need to study mythology in his spare time. At least they wouldn't be going all the way to Gabbs or too close to Death Valley – though Grimmjow had always wanted to go to Vegas.

"You're the immature one who sits in the back of the hall aren't you?" Uryuu had asked when they'd all been grouped up.

Grimmjow had sneered at him while he pushed his glasses back into place on his thin nose. The ginger, Ichigo, had simply stared at them both with a strange disinterest that made Grimmjow's blood boil. Grimmjow liked being the center of attention but he'd never been able to get Ichigo to bother glaring at him.

Now, he found himself on a country road, kicking the tires of his car half-heartedly – it had been with far more gusto an hour prior but he'd gotten winded thanks to the added cussing and damning the contraption to hell and back. At this rate, he would not only be amazingly late, his group mates would be getting tempted to rip him a new one. Why he was scared of the two was a bit beyond him but he'd seen the ginger get teased before and was not in the mood to have to deal with his deceptive upper body strength.

"Damn," he muttered as he moved to pull out his phone from his pocket.

The GPS in his car had basically proved itself to be a bust; he was ruing the day he did not update the stupid thing enough already so he was trying to not dwell on it. He held up the phone to find it was searching for a signal, killing its battery in the process. He had an overwhelming urge to throw it into the desert about him with rough bellow of irritation. Instead, he gripped it in a white knuckle hold for a moment before turning it off with a hiss curse through clenched teeth.

_What else could possibly go wrong today_, he thought ruefully. _I've already taken care of the copying crap for the posters and handouts that good old Uryuu had demanded we had to use. However…now I'm lost and have nothing to get me the hell out of it_.

He whacked his head against the top of his car in frustration. He wasn't going to be getting anywhere today was he? Or should he be saying tonight? He sighed again. He was irritated beyond belief about this stupid crap about astronomy or astrology – whichever; he really didn't care which he called it since he had been hoping that he wouldn't have been saddled with any work since he had the two smartest kids in the class in his group. Though, he wasn't all that sure why he'd thought he was going to get out doing _any_ work when he had those two in his group either. Ginger head was going to rue the day he made Grimmjow stay out in the middle of nowhere to do some last minute gazing and then go and make copies in some little dunk town.

Stupid doctors and their freaking emergencies. A few hours of gazing he could do, he just had to sleep in his car until his phone went off – which it apparently wouldn't have done any way not that he thought about it. He probably would have ended up being jolted awake when one of the two knocked on his car window. He was actually fairly surprised he even got Ichigo's text message that he and Uryuu were going to be held up. He was still a bit surprised that he had forgotten that their fathers were both doctors and were always letting them help out on things. He knew that they needed to get things together for the presentation that was in maybe eight hours or so and they needed him to make copies for them.

Now, he found himself lost and fairly irritated.

Actually, he was beyond irritated. He hadn't wanted to even do the project and somehow, the other two had managed to talk him into being the bearer of all their equipment and notes. He was surprised that Uryuu had even listened to Ichigo when the ginger had made the suggestion. Of course, the fact the suggestion was even made was downright heart stopping. Grimmjow could only thank whatever god there was that it would all fit in a well sized duffle bag and would survive should he half to walk – though that sextant thing was rather heavy.

* * *

"_Are you really that damned inept?" Uryuu had asked the first night out. Grimmjow had nearly snarled at him in return._

"_Ease up a bit Uryuu," Ichigo murmured as he stared up to the skies. His brown eyes were glazed over with interest, a faraway look that could only be explained as 'dazed' in Grimmjow's opinion. That expression never showed up in class._

"_Just because it's not rocket science to you doesn't mean it's that easy for me," Grimmjow groused at the glasses wearing force of nature. Uryuu sighed and shoved his glasses up again._

"_It's really far simpler than you think," he said. "You basically reflect light through two mirrors, in succession, and then use angles to find your position. As soon as the celestial body is 'on' the horizon through the scope, you move the arc to the arm. Then you make adjustments until the body is brushing the horizon. Then you note the time in seconds, minutes, and hours, the body's name and the altitude."_

_Grimmjow had stared at him blankly; he huffed again and bent down to the ground to pick up a stick and began to draw out a diagram, explaining it once again. However, he wasn't using layman's terms and Grimmjow just let him ramble on – the diagram making less sense by the second._

"_Of course there are errors to consider," Uryuu was saying. "First off, you usually use a sextant on a ship which means that while you're taking the measurements you're moving which can make your errors greater. Note that four seconds equals one nautical mile which is about 6,076.12 feet, 1.15078 miles, 1,852 meters, or 1.85200 kilometers."_

"_He's not listening," Ichigo called as he began to hold up his hand as if to touch the stars, his brown eyes still focused on only the inky blackness that was dotted with fireflies above their heads. Grimmjow wasn't sure what to think of him at that moment; he was too busy noticing that Uryuu hadn't heard Ichigo speak._

"_The errors include index errors, dip, refraction, the parallax, and the semi-diameter," Uryuu continued. "Index error is instrumental and the way to fix it is to make sure that the horizon is exactly at __0°." He drew another couple of diagrams:_

"_The one on the left is a sextant set at__ 0° on a horizon split. The one on the right is what the image will look like when the index error is corrected for horizon to be level," he explained. Grimmjow's head spun again. "If you're over 0° you add the difference; if it's over, you subtract it form the observations obtained._

"_Dip is the adjustment made for the height of the reader's eye above sea level. It's usually 0.98 times the square root of that height in meters multiplied by 3.28. The equation looks like this-."_

"_No one said anything about math!" Grimmjow yelled in horror._

"_Put up with it," Ichigo called back as he began to write something down in the notebook he'd gotten specifically for this project. Grimmjow scowled at him as Uryuu wrote out the equation with a chuckle._

"_That's way too complicated," Grimmjow muttered._

"_Meters are about 3.281 feet or one hundred centimeters," Uryuu deadpanned. "It's really not that difficult a conversion – especially not with a reliable calculator."_

"_Just because you can do that crap in your head doesn't mean everyone else can," Ichigo laughed as he held up his hand again before returning to writing something down._

_Grimmjow had never heard him curse before._

"_Whatever," Uryuu muttered dismissively. He turned back to his diagrams. "Refraction is the bending of light through a medium such as air. I believe the Nautical Almanac has the allowances for it…I shall have to get a hold of that sooner or later. The parallax is the displacement in the position of an object depending on the line of sight. Again, I think it's in the Almanac I think. The Semi-diameter is in there too I believe."_

"_I'll get it for you," Ichigo said. Grimmjow and Uryuu stared at him in amazement. "What? My uncle sails…."_

* * *

Grimmjow sighed as he reached in to the trunk of his car to pull out the duffle there. He moved the binders filled to the brim with equations and charts into it, hoping that nothing would get damaged as he hiked his butt back to town. It was night so it wouldn't be too hot if he hiked himself back to the nearest rest station where he could bum a ride. Hell, if he was lucky he'd be able to borrow a car whilst getting _his_ towed to a mechanic. He dropped the sextant on top of the binders a bit roughly – he didn't hear it break and there was a blanket there after all – before making sure he had his wallet and keys.

There was no way he was going to leave his car unlocked on some random road. No way in hell was he doing that. He'd spent enough time out there as it was; he wasn't about to risk leaving his car out for someone to simply stumble upon an easy grab. He wasn't that damned stupid; that was just around the complete rocket scientists in his classes who liked to show him up so often that he'd just given up trying to argue them into corners.

He was better at looking big and scary. It also usually played out better when he just looked like he was about to bash someone's head in when they started rambling off on some tangent that was over his head anyway. However, he hadn't been able to _do_ that in this project since he needed the grade and wasn't about to listen to his parents' whining at him again. He was seriously tired of hearing that he could do better when he felt no real need to do better.

Being better wasn't exactly fun after all – that had responsibilities to tend to and he wasn't really one for responsibilities at that particular moment. In fact, he hated being responsible at that particular moment. All being responsible had done for him so far was get him in trouble. If there was one thing he hated more than being responsible – with anyone or anything – it was being in trouble; especially when the trouble was a result of the responsibility. He hated pressure yet he envied Ichigo who seemed to not mind the idea of being trapped in _years_ of schooling only to find the pressure of the doctoring world. He thought Ichigo was insane but also fairly brave.

Something shifted and the duffle felt a bit too heavy on one side. Grimmjow sighed another curse and slipped the stupid thing off his shoulder to shift the binders and sextant. He almost roared a curse when he noticed one of the folders had lost its holders and had let the papers in it go all over the place. He scooped the papers up and moved them to a binder, noticing the diagrams on them. He recognized them from the conversation that had followed after Uryuu's rant on sextants and how they work.

It had apparently been Ichigo's turn to draw diagrams.

* * *

"_You're forgetting about the Position Circle by the way."_

_Uryuu wrinkled his nose. "Even _I _don't understand that stupid thing."_

_Ichigo chuckled again and stood. He lifted the stick from Uryuu's hands and began to draw out yet another diagram._

"_You use this to measure the altitude of the body you're using," he explained. "Your position on earth is 'z' which lies on the circumference of this small circle, or the position circle, the center being the geographical position of the body. The radius of the small circle is the true zenith distance or 'zx' and is expressed in nautical miles. The astronomical position line is this small arc of the position circle here." He dragged the stick over the arc making it darker and more noticeable. _

"_Depending on the size of 'zx' you can determine the miles. If it's small, the distance is about twenty miles. With that information you can plot your position on a chart with the circle on it without losing accuracy of your position. In general however, 'zx' will be large."_

"_How large is large?" Grimmjow asked, oddly interested._

"_About a thousand miles large."_

_Grimmjow's eyes bugged and he shook his head. _

"_Also, your charts are usually not big enough to actually be all that useful. The position has to be found through confining methods on the plotting to keep the navigation around the neighborhood of the ship's position. That is called the intercept method or the Marcq St. Hilaire."_

_Grimmjow nodded again and glanced at the chart Ichigo had drawn out before their feet. He found he couldn't follow it anymore now that Ichigo was not explaining it as clearly as he had been. At least he could have said he'd understood it during the explanation; that would ruffle Uryuu's feathers a bit._

"_So, what's this intercept method you were talking about?" Grimmjow asked trying to sound not as interested as he actually was. Ichigo had a way of making almost anything interesting. It was a bit irritating at times._

_Ichigo smiled at him._

"_It's a way to navigate," he explained. "It used to be called the _azimuth intercept _because you had to use a process involving the azimuth line to find intercept distances and all. It helps you find a line of position on which the observer is. Where the two or more lines intersect, is where the observer is and that position is called a 'fix'. Of course, it involves more math."_

"_More math?" Grimmjow almost whined._

"_Yes. Tons more of it with cosines and sines," Ichigo laughed. "Trust me when I say it's a bit over my head. Also…the readings are usually taken in short intervals around twilight or some other time like it.__ If observations are taken for only a few minutes at most, the corrected lines of position by convention yield a 'fix'. If the lines of position must be taken for an hour or more, the results are called a 'running fix'."_

_Grimmjow's head was spinning again._

* * *

Grimmjow shook himself of the memory and moved the papers into a binder as gently as he could – no way was he going to let Uryuu get on his back for bending the papers accidentally. He'd had enough of a rant of getting the copies to be perfect hours prior and he wasn't in the mood for a rant on how he 'couldn't follow simple instructions if his life depended on it' from the kid who weighed less than he did when he wasn't soaking wet.

His hand brushed over the cool metal of the sextant once more and he lifted his head back to the stars, surprising himself when he managed to find _Ursa Major_ with ease. He cocked his head to follow the line from Merak to Dubhe all the way to Polaris, the 'never moving star of the north' that Ichigo had praised as a great navigation tool, and finding the end of the handle of _Ursa Minor_'s back.

He blinked. That had been way too easy. He distinctly remembered having issues even finding the images that had apparently always been there. Though, he also recalled Uryuu saying something about how the stars were moving out – Red Shifting he'd called it – and had probably been in different shapes in the beginning of stargazing. Something about how the speed of light having to travel over the complete emptiness of space made the stars' light late in getting to earth. It took eight minutes for the sunlight to actually reach Earth – which was mind blowing in and of itself.

* * *

"_How do you know the brightness of a star anyway? I mean…they all look like they're the same amount of light from here so how can you tell?" Grimmjow had found himself asking one day, his head cocked upwards to gaze languidly at the stars. He was beginning to be able to pick out certain constellations but he'd always have to ask if he was right about the name or the legend behind it._

_Ichigo had been laughing at him for days now._

"_You find it through the magnitude scale," Uryuu groused. "That scale helps determine why things look bigger or smaller – brighter or dimmer – than they are. If something has a negative apparent magnitude then it is brighter – or at least seems that way. As it is, the naked eye can only see up to 6.5m of light."_

"_Apparent Magnitude?" Grimmjow growled._

"_The magnitude as seen by a human on Earth," Ichigo cleared up. "Thanks to telescopes we can see things that are much higher on that scale though we've only gotten up to thirty with the James Webb Telescope." He gave a dismissive shrug and went back to star gazing._

"_So…What's Venus' magnitude?"_

"_About…negative four-point-three 'm'," Ichigo murmured. His hand shot up. "That's Sirius." His hand dropped to his side again and he continued to gaze almost as if he were searching for something really important._

"_Any way," Uryuu stated smugly, irritated that Ichigo had corrected him…again, "there's also Absolute Magnitude which is represented by a capital 'M'. Where apparent magnitude depends on distance, absolute magnitude depends on the luminosity of the actual star itself. So in actuality, Sirius – our brightest star in the sky – is actually dimmer than Betelgeuse when it comes to absolute magnitude. However, since it is closer and the light has to travel a shorter distance, it seems brighter to us."_

"_What's distance got to do with any of it though? Isn't the speed of light almost incomprehensible?" Grimmjow asked, feeling stupid for asking._

"_The speed of light it 671million miles an hour," Ichigo stated. "That's maybe 173 astronomical units per day. The nearest star's light reaches us every four-point-twenty-four years. To cross the Milky Way would take about one hundred thousand years; forget going for 2.5 million years to get from Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy!"_

_Grimmjow blinked at him_

"_That's…insane."_

* * *

Grimmjow hefted the Sextant then, thinking that he may actually be able to get himself somewhere with at least trying to use what Ichigo and Uryuu had accidentally taught him. Oh, he could just imagine the looks on their faces if he showed up saying he'd managed to navigate his way off the country road with nothing but the sextant and the calculator they'd shoved into the bag at one point.

He grinned as he lifted the sextant up to align it with a body he recognized with relative ease – giving himself a mental pat on the back for even recognizing one of the millions of stars up there.

Holding it in his right hand, he made the sighting through the telescope, making sure that the horizon glass showed the horizon was where he would need it to be, with the body aligned with the horizon. One he was sure everything was in the right place, he rocked – Ichigo's words not his – the sextant to make sure he kept the stupid thing was being held vertically during his sight taking. Once that was done, he made a mark of the placement and the time. He noted the angle the arc was reading as well – in degrees naturally – and began to so some of the calculations.

He was a bit too far south than he would have liked but that was fixable right? He could see Polaris, all he had to do was align himself in such a way to follow it but also make sure he was heading to an actual town. He stowed the sextant away, carefully wrapping it the blanket it had been in for protective reasons, and then pulled out a road map. He aligned it with the North Star and rechecked the calculations to find that he was south of where he was supposed to have been an hour ago had his car not died on him.

A few minutes later he was finding that he actually knew what the hell he was doing, pulling the calculations to fit the map he had and figuring out how far it was from where he was to where he had to be in six hours – he decided he should try to rush a bit to make up some of his time lost cursing at the car and doing calculations. He was tempted to hop up and down with glee for proving he could do it – Uryuu made it look rigorously hard – and finding it about as easy as Ichigo had made it look.

He packed up the stuff, keeping the map out so he could try to make sure he was keeping track of where he was, and began walking a bit. As he walked he let his mind wander back to some of the conversations that had filled the hours of sky watching.

* * *

"_Hey, what're you doing there?" Grimmjow asked while watching Ichigo draw lines in the sand as he cocked his head up to the stars._

"_Trying to figure out the Parallax."_

"_The what?"_

"_The difference of the obvious placement of an object by looking at it in two different angles." Grimmjow gave him a blank look. "You know how your finger will 'move' when you close one eye and then switch?" A nod. "Think of applying that to finding the distance between stars and the planet. Where the two lines cross is where the star is and that distance it measured in parsecs."_

_Grimmjow rolled his eyes as he sat down next to Ichigo._

"_What?" he asked with a bit of snark in his tone._

"_Parsec…it's about three-point-twenty-six light years or nineteen trillion miles."_

_Grimmjow gave a low whistle._

"_Far out there huh?"_

"_Shut up."_

"_Want to know the distance formula?"_

"_No."_

_Ichigo chuckled and wrote it out anyway. "It's distance, d, measured in parsecs, p, in arcseconds or one divided by the parsecs."_

"_Arcseconds?"_

"_They help you measure declination sometimes."_

"_Declination?"_

"_The angular distance from the celestial equator – measured in degrees."_

"_Now, you sound like nerd."_

"_Dictionary definition – my uncle made me memorize it."_

* * *

"_What the hell is this 'celestial sphere' Uryuu keeps yapping on about?"_

"_It's the ninth day into this and you're only asking me now?" Ichigo asked, not lifting his head from the telescope he'd dragged out there. Beside him sat a notebook and pencil, his hand making absent notes on the paper. They were amazingly legible._

_Grimmjow blushed and turned his head away._

"_You want to know or not?" Ichigo asked after a while. Grimmjow gave him a glare but he smiled anyway. "Alright, you know how the Earth has a fairly circular orbit around the sun?" A nod. "Alright…think of the stars up there basically staying put in one place as we rotate. Down here it looks like the sky is moving right?"_

"_The world was flat," Grimmjow said sarcastically. Ichigo kicked his shins. "Ow!"_

"_The world was not flat stupid; that's been proven."_

"_Yeah; by Columbus." Another kick. "Damn it! Knock that off!"_

"_Columbus had his math wrong."_

"_No way…how else would he have discovered America and whatnot?"_

"_He didn't discover America – the Vikings did that before him with smaller boats. He thought he found China or a shortcut to it. No one liked going too far away from being able to see the shore lines because they all knew about Eratosthenes who found the circumference of the Earth using shadows of a building and a well in two different cities, pacing out the distance between the two cities, and doing very careful math. He was off by one degree but for someone who lived in 276 BC to 194 BC. Hell, he's the father of geography."_

_Grimmjow frowned but knew better than to fight over those points._

"_Alright…you were talking about the celestial sphere?"_

"_Right…" Ichigo glared. "As we move, the sky doesn't really change but since we don't notice the motion it's like the stars revolve around us – a geocentric universe of sorts which was thought up by Aristotle. There's another geocentric idea from Ptolemy that has the planets on epicycles to explain why Jupiter and Mars 'wander' over the sky strangely. However, he was wrong on quite a few counts on that so I'm not going to go into it. _

'_The celestial sphere is an idea that the stars actually are in a line around the entire solar system that goes around the plants and the sun as a whole. This is why we see certain constellations on certain months."_

_Grimmjow nodded slowly, his mind sort of wrapping around the whole idea. The planets moved around the sun, the stars didn't actually move but since the planets were rotating and orbiting they looked like they moved across the sky. Yeah….that made perfect sense._

"_Then…the reason the moon changes shape is what exactly?" Grimmjow asked, earning a smack to the shoulder. "Would you quit hitting me?"_

"_Quit being an idiot and I will," Ichigo stated with a straight face. "It doesn't change shape; it orbits Earth which orbits the sun."_

"_And?"_

_Ichigo rolled his eyes._

"_And," he dragged the 'a' sound out, "the moon is a quarter the size of the Earth and its gravity effects the tides and the wobble of the Earth. Without the moon, our angle of axis would change and then we'd have weird season changes. Anyway…the moon orbits around Earth every twenty-eight days or so but it also rotates on its axis at about the same rate – hence why we only see one side at all times._

"_While it travels around us the sun remains in the same place and lights up the moon from right to left. As the moon comes around us, it begins to darken from right to left. Everything's right to left understand?" A nod. "Good. Now…apply that thinking to around one thousand years of thinking that way and you'll have a fair understanding as to why humans are so far behind in certain things involving space travel."_

"_Huh?"_

"_Oh Ptolemy's epicycle theory was so perfect for his times that it ended any more discovery for about one thousand years." Ichigo waved his hand almost dismissively as if it weren't all that big a deal. However, to Grimmjow a thousand years seemed like an eternity. He had had no idea how wrong he was._

* * *

"_So…what's the myth behind that one?" Grimmjow asked as he pointed without any real aim at the sky. _

_It was night seventeen – why they needed so many days for a project like this was beginning to make him wonder but not complain – and Uryuu had had something to do so he was alone with Ichigo who seemed to be all too happy to fall into his own little world of star gazing unless Grimmjow bothered to ask him things._

_Ichigo didn't seem to mind Grimmjow's attention seeking._

"_You mean that one?" Ichigo asked as he pointed to one that looked like an incomplete triangle. Grimmjow nodded even though he knew he was lying that it had been what he'd meant. For all he knew, he'd meant another one but Ichigo seemed alright with the noncommittal nod. _

"_That's Andromeda the princess. The myth is that her mother, Cassiopeia who is that W-shaped one over there, bragged that she was more beautiful than the queen of the gods and the Nereids – nymphs. Neptune destroyed the coast with a sea monster known as Cetus in some perspectives but Cetus is usually seen as a whale._

"_Now…Cepheus, Andromeda's father, went to an oracle of Jupiter only to find out that if Andromeda were to be sacrificed to the monster. Naturally, the virgin sacrifice had to be given right? Right. So, Andromeda was chained to a rock on the coast only to be saved by Perseus," he continued as he pointed to one that was near the triangle's left, "who had just killed Medusa and was on his way home to save his mother. He swore to kill the monster as long as he could have her hand in marriage. He kills the monster, they marry, and the story goes on with him saving his mother as well as living with his wife."_

"_Sounds boring."_

"_It is. Now Cassiopeia is a funny one." He was pointing at the W-shaped one again. Depending on which myth you read she can either be happy with the marriage of her daughter or opposing of it and therefore turned to stone by the head of Medusa. When she was placed in the heavens by Neptune, the god saw fit to humiliate her one last time."_

"_How so?"_

"_Her head points towards Polaris see?" A nod. "Half of every night, she's upside down."_

_Grimmjow started to sputter with laughter. He could just imagine the former queen's face when she found out that she was going to be eternally sitting with her skirts over her head for being so pompously idiotic._

_Ichigo sat up suddenly and rooted about in his bag. When he lay back down, he had a small sky map in his hands._

"_Point at one," he said. "Let's see how rusty I am."_

_Grimmjow pointed at one he had always been able to pick out._

"_That's Orion the hunter. Again, myths aren't the clearest things out there when it comes to his family. One says his father is Neptune and his mother is Queen Euryale of the Amazons and she was a great hunter herself."_

"_Talent runs in the family huh?"_

"_When you're talking about gods, oh yes. Now…he had a bit too much strength and an immense ego and declared he could take down any animal on Earth. A small scorpion stung him and killed him. The reason Scorpio is on the opposite side of the sky so they are never together at the same time."_

"_That's a dull one," Grimmjow sighed._

"_That's only one myth," Ichigo laughed. "There's another that says he was a gift from Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury."_

"_No mother?"_

"_None. In that one, he falls in love with Merope, the daughter of Oenopion the princess of Chios. Her father wouldn't give permission for them to marry though – not even after he ridded the island of wild beasts."_

"_Are you kidding me? So much for Greeks being all hospitable."_

"_There's another one that says the scorpion was sent by Apollo who was worried for Diana's chastity."_

"_What? A husband worried over his wife's chastity?"_

"_Sister's chastity. Diana was the goddess of the hunt, forests and hills, wild animals, virginity, childbirth, and the moon. And actually, Diana's Greek name is Artemis. We're talking in Roman terms here."_

"_So…what's his usual depiction?"_

"_Look at you using big words!" Ichigo laughed. "Usually, he's fighting a bull with a raised club. Though sometimes he's drawing a bow. This star in his shoulder is Betelgeuse and the one here in his left leg is Rigel."_

_The rest of the night was filled with Ichigo explaining the ones he remembered and making random guesses at the ones he didn't. Some of the ideas they both came up with were actually fairly entertaining as hell._

* * *

"Holy good god you _made_ it?" Uryuu was screeching. "I thought you said your car died!"

"It did," Grimmjow muttered as set up the poster. He'd made it to a small town fairly easily, his navigation skills apparently better than he could have guessed for they'd gotten him there with a few hours to spare and he'd even managed to bum a ride in a fairly well tuned car. His own car was going to be towed to a shop in the small town he'd gotten to and was going to be taken care of there – Ichigo had already promised to give him a ride up there to get it back – and he'd made it to the university with plenty of time to hit a store and get a trifold and a few more supplies that Ichigo had mentioned Uryuu had managed to forget about.

"How'd you get here then?" Uryuu asked sarcastically.

"Oh do shut up Uryuu," Ichigo sighed as he walked back into the dorm room he and Uryuu happened to share – the Headquarters of the group for the project since it was the most convenient place for them all to meet what with Grimmjow living down the hall from them. "He got here, he has the stuff, and he's had to walk for at least four hours nonstop. Cut him some fucking slack will you? God, you can be worse than your father sometimes."

Uryuu bristled at that but didn't even sputter a reply. Ichigo always won if he brought out the father cards. Grimmjow made a conscious effort to not laugh. He didn't need Uryuu throwing things at him. Not when he'd just pitched the best damned game in his entire life. He'd made it there in six hours – less actually since he'd apparently made it further down that road than he'd thought; thank god he didn't do the usual thing of following the proverbial yellow brick road he'd come down.

"Thanks Ichigo," Grimmjow hissed when Uryuu wandered off muttering about lucky pricks.

"What? Oh…" Ichigo murmured, waving a hand dismissively. "No big deal. Uryuu has something up his butt so just ignore him."

"That's a bit hard considering everything."

"His father's putting too much pressure on him. Ignore him. Besides, you used this stuff better than I do on a sailing trip with my uncle."

"No way."

"No…trust me…I got us lost so badly the first time I went sailing. My uncle however, was always checking the readings so he got fixed in a matter of moments despite how far off course I'd gotten us."

Ichigo gave him a smile and then began helping him with gluing things onto the poster.

* * *

**_School Assignments: The Most Irritating Things_ is open for one-shot/two-shot suggestions. For instance, you can PM ideas of an assignment that can be real or unreal (your choice), the setting, and if you want it to be a different set of people/pair/whatever. I'll do ones I think I can pull off - take a shot at a few others - but please note that it will probably be done sparingly. Thanks.**


	2. Chemistry

**Alright...time for a bit of yaoi.**

* * *

"She wants us to do what?" Grimmjow asked in slight horror. It was lunch, the warming spring sun beating down on his bare shoulders meanly, and he'd spent the day ditching classes as per usual. Nothing was all that interesting in his classes anymore and besides, as a senior, he had all the credits he'd need to graduate.

Actually, he hadn't ditched all of his classes. Just the ones that didn't have a certain orange haired senior who'd caught his eye years ago. He'd made it to one class out of four and he should have made it to two but he hated his chemistry teacher with a passion – she was a ditz and pain in the neck and she gave far too much homework – so despite his wanting to see the orange haired senior, he'd skipped out. Now, while he was basking in the sunlight on the grounds of the school, his friend Szayel had shown up like a dark cloud that promised rain and Grimmjow was not happy about it.

And that was_ before_ Szayel mentioned that they had a project to do in Chemistry.

"She wants us to make soap," Szayel stated bluntly with a sniff before he adjusted his clothes for what had to have been the seventh time in as many minutes – at least that Grimmjow had seen in the past thirty – and hitched his glasses higher onto his nose.

"Soap?"

"Yes; soap."

"You're fucking with me right? If you are, start running; now," Grimmjow snarled as he flung himself to his feet, glaring at his friend in irritation. There was no way the chemistry teacher would make them make soap, pretend they were soap sellers and 'sell' the shit to the class complete with surveying and making a poster and yada, yada, yada.

No way in hell was she that stupid. The class was mostly male, the girls would be far more likely to simply buy some soap and make shit up about it rather than get their hands dirty, and who the hell made soap at home anyway?

"I'm not fucking with you Grimmjow," Szayel stated. "I'm quite serious about this." He hiked his glasses up again. "Really, you should just suck it up and come to class. At least then, I wouldn't have to hunt you down and tell you she's already assigned the groups."

Grimmjow perked up a bit at that notion. Usually, the groups were made up of whatever table you happened to be sitting at. Of course, sometimes she'd combine tables since each table only had two people at it and sometimes the projects she gave out had too much for two people to handle.

At present, he was sitting at a table with his orange haired wet dream and a group project could mean he'd be alone with the berry-head for more than simple school time allowed. As it was, Grimmjow only had three or four (counting Chemistry it was four) classes with the berry and then they had nothing in common – despite having once been childhood friends when they were like six.

Then the idiot berry had to grow up and turn into the most gorgeous fucking thing Grimmjow had ever seen. Lithe build held up by long legs that Grimmjow swore up and down in his head would be smooth as silk. A slender neck that looked perfect for kissing, long fingers that would surely tangle themselves in a lover's hair, and lips that looked softer than pillows and soft against something they enjoyed touching. That wasn't mentioning the soulful brown eyes that seemed to bore into your soul and the soft expressions that hid behind a near permanent scowl and brash attitude that made Grimmjow long to slam the kid against a wall and break down that little wall and make the kid beg for him to…_Stop. Right there. Stop._

His head was running away with him again and he knew it. It always did whenever he thought about that irritatingly unobtainable, orange haired sex on legs, Ichigo Kurosaki. The kid could make him burn with lust without fucking trying and Grimmjow had a feeling that it wasn't mutual – Ichigo never gave him any impression it was even though Grimmjow knew he wasn't as subtle about it as he probably should have been but he'd been careful to not be like the girls who'd interrupt class to confess to the kid.

He didn't really mind that Ichigo had dated a few girls, always ending up as a friend who gave advice rather than a boyfriend and whatever but he did mind that Ichigo seemed completely…oblivious to _him_. He had fucking _sky blue hair_ for fuck's sake! How could a kid with orange hair miss someone with equally outlandish hair color? Seriously, how could he be that oblivious?

"I'm paired with Kurosaki aren't I?" Grimmjow asked, trying to not sound too hopeful though he already knew Szayel had picked up on it years ago.

At least Szayel was subtle about his knowledge of the wanton stares and near grabs Grimmjow made towards the young man. Nnoitra gave Grimmjow so much shit about it that Grimmjow had to wonder why he hadn't made the guy need to squint out of his left eye – the right one damaged from a shit parent who was no longer in his life – from a well-aimed punch or kick to the head.

"Yes…It's supposedly a simple project." Szayel gave a shrug. "I'm sure you'll do work on this one though; she already hissed at your partner to shove some work onto you."

_Oh no…_

"He seemed all too pleased to do so as well."

_Fuck_.

* * *

"…and that is how saponification works," the teacher was droning, her happy smile wide and glaring. "Do you all understand?"

_No, I don't_, Grimmjow thought darkly as he slipped a gaze at Ichigo who'd been taking notes like mad. He hadn't been doing anything other than taking notes, marking something else on another piece of paper as the teacher spoke. After a few glances, he'd noticed that Ichigo was taking the precaution of writing down any ideas for the survey – really? – that they had to make. They were simple questions; 'any allergies? To what? What scents do you prefer? Do you like smooth soap or soap with texture?'

Naturally, Ichigo had mumbled that he'd print out ten copies of the survey so they could each have five. He tried amending by saying he could make more if Grimmjow needed them but Grimmjow had already gotten a rather mean idea forming in his head. Five surveys would do fine for his purposes – he'd have Nelliel, Hallibel, and Hallibel's girls answer the questions. All he'd had to do was mention what he'd have to do with the stupid project to them and he suddenly had five women planning how to make sure he got to tease Ichigo.

He'd been rather…obvious about his interest apparently and the girls – naturally – had picked up on it and were more than willing to help him out a bit.

"You've been lusting after him for how long?" Hal had asked once he'd stared at her dumbly for a long enough moment. He'd blinked in response and had enough of a brain to say thanks before leaving for class.

"Those the possible questions?" Grimmjow asked in Ichigo's ear, reveling in the red that tinged his cheeks. He hadn't meant for his voice to dip that deeply; seriously he hadn't. Yet, the look on Ichigo's face as he tried to bend away from Grimmjow had made it _very_ worthwhile.

"Yeah," Ichigo mumbled as he scooted away as from Grimmjow as the table would allow him – not very far thankfully. "I'll type up the survey tonight and bring you copies tomorrow."

"Whatever…" Grimmjow muttered, trying hard to sound uninterested.

His eyes had glazed over when the teacher had been talking about saponification and he'd been mentally dead to the world when she'd put up odd zigzag lines saying the points were all a molecule, the lines bonds. He didn't even want to think about how utterly numb his head would be when they started having to look for what kinds of oils and scents they were going to have to use to make the crap.

The teacher dropped a couple worksheets onto their table and gave them each a winning look; a smile to Ichigo and a nudging look to Grimmjow. He tried to not glare back as he picked up a paper and glanced at it. He managed to not drop his head to the desk with a thud. He didn't want to work on this crap damn it; it wasn't like he was going to make a living making soap so what the hell was the point?

"What's our 'target group' or whatever the fuck she called it?" Grimmjow asked as he shoved the paper into his notebook – that was really more of a file cabinet than anything else.

"Don't know; depends on who you have fill out the surveys," was the mumbled reply, Ichigo's brown eyes fixed on the worksheet they'd just gotten. He filled it out in moments and then shoved his things into his bag once he was done. He pulled out a book and set into reading.

He took a quick glance at the sheet sitting before him and absently took out his own sheet again. He didn't copy everything necessarily but he copied enough to make it look like he'd tried to pay attention. Naturally, Grimmjow made sure to make it look like it hadn't gotten through to his brain. There was nothing better than playing dumb in an irritating class.

Well, there always was the good fuck every now and then.

Speaking of, Ichigo looked very delectable today in the formfitting clothes he was wearing. The jeans hugged his thighs and backside in all the right places in all the right ways, his shirt seemed to cling to his torso, and there was the fact that his eyes were as expressive as always past the semi-permanent scowl on his tanned face. Grimmjow placed his sheet on top of Ichigo's and tried to not notice the tightening in his jeans. It wasn't easy to do. Everything about Ichigo was hard to ignore.

_Think of things that don't arouse you_, Grimmjow found himself thinking as he resisted the urge to palm himself. He couldn't take the chance in class. No way was he going to get himself into trouble. Not when he had a project to be doing no matter how stupid it was.

However, the task was apparently easier said than done what with the very reason for his interest sitting right next to him; pulling him in like a fisherman or a magnet. Grimmjow hated how irresistible the kid was at times – mainly when other people stared at him so openly that it was a wonder Ichigo didn't notice. He had to hope that Ichigo wasn't asexual or anything like that whenever he saw that ignorance.

Seriously, anyone who could ignore women with heaven sent curves or even the most deceptively handsome lines – like tom-boy Tatsuki – was insane or simply unable to get interested. Given, the blushes that Grimmjow found himself able to splatter across that freckled nose told him that Ichigo _could _get interested if given half a chance. Maybe Grimmjow would have some luck cracking that damned wall that most of the girls in school would whisper about.

_"Kurosaki doesn't seem to be a very warm kind of person does he?"_

_"No…he's really…cold if you ask me."_

_"Not cold…Arctic."_

_"You're _right_."_

They couldn't be though; Grimmjow had seen the kid with his sisters. He'd gotten jealous because those girls got genuine smiles from the orange haired senior that no one else seemed to be allowed to see by some sort of cosmic intervention. Grimmjow had gotten close once; best damned birthday ever if you asked him.

"Grimmjow," Ichigo's voice chimed as a hand shook his shoulder. Grimmjow blinked like a deer in the headlights as he was shaken from his thoughts.

"Y-yeah?" he stammered. _Did I seriously just stammer in front of him? Shit._

"The bell rang," Ichigo said calmly, blinking at his co-worker in slight amazement that he'd missed such a simple thing.

Grimmjow nodded a bit shakily as he gathered his things. Ichigo waited for him to finish before nodding and breezing off. Grimmjow sighed. His luck was low to begin with; he didn't need the unconscious reminders from the scowling carrot top.

* * *

The girls had had a shit ton of fun with the surveys. Grimmjow had plopped the papers before them all during lunch, asked them to fill them out, and he'd gotten them back in bright gel pen colors complete with hearts for the dots on the 'I's and almost heart shaped 'o's. Nel had done hers in a horridly blinding pink that made his eyes sting every time he looked at it and Hallibel had done hers in a pale purple for the hell of it. Starrk had taken one to give to Lily after school and Grimmjow was presently waiting for that one to return to the fold.

"Hey Starrk," he called as he leaned against the south wall of the building. Starrk waved back lazily and yawned. The brunette senior pulled out a strangely smooth piece of paper that had been folded into thirds and handed it to Grimmjow.

"There…Don't try to read it…Nel gave her the yellow sharpie and I had to outline every letter with black ink. Not rewrite over the letters in black; fucking _outline_ the letters. She wrote in cursive to boot…I'm exhausted."

Grimmjow blinked in slight horror before shoving the paper into his science binder, a muttered thanks spilling from his lips. He also made the promise of babysitting sometime if Starrk wanted to catch up on his sleep – an easy promise to fulfill and get the hell over with since Starrk was the kind of senior who'd prefer to sleep through his classes at the beginning of his _freshmen year_ since he'd much rather stay up all night doing fun things rather than study.

Grimmjow had been the same; and then Ichigo had whacked him upside the head with a book and cussed him out for sleeping in class and not doing homework. Ichigo had always been a bit of a brainiac but he was the type of person who was _supposed_ to go somewhere in life. He'd had things planned out before he'd entered middle school.

Grimmjow didn't really give all that much of a damn about what he wanted to do in the future. The future was far off in his opinion and wasn't really going to do him many favors right the hell now. Screw the future; it could sort itself out later, with or without his help.

"Saturday," Starrk muttered as he rubbed his eyes. "Why'd you wake me so early?"

"Because unlike you, I have morning classes," Grimmjow growled.

"I have a morning class."

"Yeah…right before lunch and it's not a very serious class since you're just a Teacher's Assistant and the teacher hardly if ever has anything for you to fucking do."

"Noted but…it's still a class I have to show up for attendance reasons," Starrk mumbled as he ran a hand through his mop of hair. "You need me for anything more right now?"

Grimmjow shook his head earning a relieved grunt as Starrk turned to walk away. His house was maybe three blocks away but that didn't matter since Starrk was always tired and never wanted to do very much in terms of moving around – his sister and school being the only exceptions to the rule. Grimmjow gave a half-hearted wave in return before striding towards a door to sneak up to his locker.

He'd skipped his second and third again and wasn't really in the mood to be caught by the school's overly confident security guards who didn't really get paid enough to deal with the 2100 kids attending the school. Besides, all they were really allowed to do was yell at the kids to get to class, tell them to stop fighting, and patrol the halls for people skipping out or loitering around. They'd never given Grimmjow much hassle before but there's a first for everything.

His locker clicked open with ease and Grimmjow traded out a few books for chemistry and the last two classes of his day. He frowned at the heavy Chemistry textbook that had been sitting in his locker all year for a moment before conceding and dropping it into his already bulging bag. He was about to regret it when the bell rang and the halls were suddenly getting flooded with people. He kicked the locker closed, zipped up his bag, threw it onto his back and ducked into the crowd to slip up to his chemistry class.

The room was mostly empty as usual since Grimmjow knew for a fact that he wasn't the only person who disliked the class, the teacher, the project, or all of the above. It surprised him a bit that Ichigo wasn't one of the first ones there though. He'd _never_ beaten Ichigo to a class before. He tried to not grin a bit sadistically. It wasn't something really worth smiling over; Ichigo wasn't perfect despite everything after all.

The bell almost signaled the lingerers in the hall were late when Ichigo flung himself into the room, his breath coming in short spurts as he gulped saliva in an effort to sooth a dry throat. His backpack thudded onto the floor as he sank onto the stool, his head damn near slamming against the cool tabletop.

Grimmjow stared. This was new.

"You okay?" Grimmjow asked as casually as he could. It was oddly easy since he'd known Ichigo for forever. He could talk to Ichigo more openly than anyone. Now, if only they'd had more classes together, things may be a bit different.

"I'm fine," Ichigo growled as he lifted his head and dug into his bag for his things which he allowed to thud onto the table with a glare. "My sisters and friends are fucking with me is all. Just a normal day in my life."

"Fucking with you? How?" Grimmjow asked, thoroughly interested. No one with a sane head fucked around with Ichigo – the kid had a tendency to make them regret it with a look.

Ichigo shoved a pile of papers in front of Grimmjow. They were his surveys filled to the brim with bad drawings of rabbits and bears, cute hand writing, and even cute little sayings. Grimmjow blinked and pulled out his own.

"I think my friends are fucking with me too then," he lied. Ichigo glared at him as if to say he didn't want any pity. Then he looked at the papers.

"God damn it all…" he growled as he shied away from the utter horror of the neon colors presented to him. At least his friends had strayed away from the nauseating colors Grimmjow's friends had used. Though, it was sort of entertaining to see that all of Ichigo's friends had angled towards strawberry scented soap as their favorite scent – in fact, it was the only viable option according to Ichigo's surveys.

"If we go off yours, we have to make strawberry scented soap," Grimmjow pointed out, making sure he sounded irritated. Ichigo scowled.

"I could say the same for yours."

"So…strawberry?"

Ichigo blushed and glared at him for a second before something akin to a realization lit his coffee colored eyes. He scrubbed a hand over his burning face as he turned away.

"Yeah…I guess so."

* * *

Making the soap was fairly easy in the end. They'd gone onto a given site to figure out what sort of oils and what not they'd want to put into the concoction – though the teacher made it all difficult saying she'd only get oh so much of whatever for them – as well as finding out how soft or solid it'd be. The teacher said she'd prefer they'd make as firm a soap as they could so liquid soaps – ones with more potassium hydroxide than sodium hydroxide – weren't really an option. Also, they had to choose what fatty acids like Tallow they'd put in to make it more hydrating or less hydrating.

Since they'd be using a hot process rather than a cold one, they'd been told to make sure that they didn't choose something that'd be easy to burst into flame – not like they were really being given the option. Besides, they were going to be given a fairly simple mold from which they'd have to cut the soap into bars or whittle into shapes.

Ichigo and Grimmjow – due to the overwhelming amount of girls they'd gotten to take the surveys – had decided to make a mild soap that was closer to Marseille soap or Castile soap than anything else. So, they went for vegetable oils or olive oil. Grimmjow suggested palm oil to make sure that the coloring from the scent would come out more vividly – to appeal for the audience he'd said. He was happy to make Ichigo blush a stunning red at the implication of making vividly pink soap.

Ichigo did the huge research push while Grimmjow offered to find a way to turn the giant block into something nice looking once the teacher gave it to them to take home and cut into pieces. Naturally, he cheated and melted the soap down to liquid again so he could pour it into molds that Nel had been so kind to find for him when she'd gone out to a hobby shop the previous weekend. Most of the molds were cute little hand soap molds that looked like shells or kitten heads.

He personal favorite however was the large strawberry shaped one.

* * *

"…So, basically, if you would like to have soft, sweet smelling skin, you should give our soap a try," Ichigo finished.

He was finding himself overly glad that there were tons of girls in their class as he 'sold' his soap. When the boys came around – and they had somehow managed to come in groups of two or three – he'd simply say they were 'marketing' to girls and that if they didn't mind their girlfriends having soft skin that smelled like strawberries they should give the soap as a gift. Valentine's Day had passed sure but surely there was a birthday coming up or another holiday that expected gifts to be handed out.

The girls – who were thankfully the last group he had to attend to – cooed and giggled, whispering to each other, before taking a sample each. He hadn't asked how Grimmjow had come up with the perfectly made shapes but he didn't really give a damn. They'd been the perfect selling point all day and so he didn't care if it didn't look like nearly enough to equal that stupid bar they'd made. Maybe the rest of it had been whittled into a pile of soap he could melt into a new bar for a girlfriend – if Grimmjow had one.

_And your mind is wandering again Kurosaki_, he found himself thinking as he took down the girly looking poster he'd made just for this. He'd be giving it to Yuzu tonight since she'd helped make it with all the perfectly cut out pictures of strawberries and well placed lace. Grimmjow's eyes had bugged at the sight of it to a comical size. It'd made very moment of being stuck with his crush worth it.

_And damn it all you labeled this stupid infatuation a crush again! Seriously Kurosaki, give it up…He's the biggest man whore in the school according to the rumors_, Ichigo thought. _Besides, if Grimmjow were interested in you, wouldn't he have made a move by now? Even with you pretending you don't care just to see if you can raise his hackles?_

He sighed softly as Grimmjow made his way over and stuffed the small poster away. Grimmjow looked pleased with himself, his rating sheets marked up and ready to be handed in with their analysis on their soap and saponification that Ichigo had written up the night before in a mad dash. He'd been worried that he'd bullshitted it but Grimmjow didn't seem to care about grades one way or the other so he hadn't mentioned that feeling. Plus, he'd covered it well enough when the teacher had been standing before him, asking questions that only a teacher would ask.

"So, how do you think that went?" Grimmjow asked, his deep voice sending the usual tremors of anticipation down Ichigo's spine.

"Fine." _Yeah, stick to curt answers or you'll never survive this conversation. Besides, you want to make sure you don't get yourself into an awkward situation right?_

"Good…hey, I have put the rest of the soap into another mold once I was done making all those little samples. Would you like to give it to your sisters?"

"Yuzu would probably love it," Ichigo said.

He was a little irritated that he'd had to abandon his plan of action but he'd have to live with it. If he remembered correctly, Grimmjow knew where he lived and all that since they'd been childhood friends of sorts and had always had at least one project to do together per school year since middle school. Actually, he remembered always having Grimmjow in field trip groups in elementary school – something about how their last names had always been within two names of each other.

Some of Ichigo's female friends had teased him that they'd probably been fated to be friends since before they were born hence why Grimmjow had moved to his town when he was five. They always said things like 'Kurosaki and Jaegerjaquez are always going to be near each other one way or another' or something else about as stupid. Tatsuki however had been the first one he'd come out to when he'd figured it out himself. She'd shut the teasing down rather smoothly – none of that overnight crap that brought more questions than aid – and had even helped him feel alright with the whole idea.

Hell, she'd probably known before anyone else since he'd tried to date but always ended up being an advisor than boyfriend. Of course, this had been when he'd been experimenting in finding out his types in middle school and freshman year. It had ended fairly simply when he'd decided he wasn't interested in women and actually preferred men. He'd come out to Tatsuki, she'd settled the teasing, and he started looking at men.

Grimmjow automatically caught his attentions though what with the fact that the blue haired menace was always around, it wasn't all that surprising. Besides, it became apparent quite quickly that Ichigo preferred men who could handle themselves and were a pain in the ass to bother trying to tame. He also didn't really want anyone being too protective of him since he could take care of himself and he didn't want to feel like an accessory. Grimmjow was pretty much all of those things but Ichigo was sure that he went for women over men.

_Just my luck._

"I'll come over and hand it to her personally then," Grimmjow said with a wry smile that made Ichigo shiver.

"I can stop by your place and get it myself if it's easier," Ichigo blurted. _Shit…what did I just do?_

"Whatever," Grimmjow shrugged. "The place is clean…Hey…you're good at studying right?" Ichigo nodded. "How about you stay the night? I could use some help cramming for the quiz in this class."

"Uh…okay. I have to stop by my place and get some stuff though." _So much for avoiding him and pretending you don't care_.

"Sure thing. See you later today then?"

_Reconsider. Say no. _ "Sure." _You're an idiot._

* * *

Grimmjow had cleared his house out barely an hour before Ichigo showed up with a duffle bag with provisions for the night. The place _was_ clean by the time he'd managed to barge his friends out – the girls helping with that when he'd announced the place had to be clean so Ichigo wouldn't freak out that night. Hal had somehow found air freshener in his place so now it actually smelled decent rather than like he and his friends binged on pizza and other fast foods – which most of them did but he didn't want Ichigo thinking he was one of them.

He already seemed to be a man whore what with his usual flirtations with female classmates and the fact that he went out most nights to clubs. There were times he liked being bi-sexual sure but he never said anything about where he went when he wanted to go to an otherwise oriented party. Nnoitra knew some of the best of those.

When the bell had rung earlier. Ichigo had smiled at him, thanked him for allowing him to stay the night, and had automatically laid down the law that there was to be studying and only that until they were done.

"Alright…" he sighed. "Next question?"

"How does saponification work?" Ichigo asked. They were on the fifth quiz of the night, it was nearing ten, and Ichigo wanted to take a shower before bed – which was going to happen whether Grimmjow was ready or not at this rate.

Grimmjow frowned. He knew it was getting late and he also knew it was a habit for the Kurosaki kids to take showers or baths before bed on alternating days – the girls took their quick showers one day, Ichigo and his father took theirs the following and so on. From the longing looks Ichigo was sending the shower, he guessed it was his day – lucky him.

However, Ichigo's law had basically stated _he_ couldn't do anything until he got all the questions right. Ichigo could do whatever he pleased and from the annoyed furrow on Ichigo's brow, he was running out chances.

"Saponification is a process that produces soap, usually from fats and lye. It involves a base (like caustic soda) hydrolysis of triglycerides, which are esters of fatty acids, to form the sodium salt of a carboxylate. In addition to soap, such traditional saponification processes produces glycerol?" He turned it into a question to be safe. He'd crammed the whole of his periods off to make sure he was ready – trying to make himself ready for anything and trying to buy himself more time with Ichigo as a friend – but it all failed him when Ichigo asked the first hard question.

Ichigo blinked at him in amazement.

"Okay…that was the last question and you got it right so I guess we can finally quit. You should be good."

"Awesome!"

"Yeah…Look I need to take a shower."

"Sure thing," Grimmjow said with a smirk playing across his features. Ichigo naturally didn't notice the meaning behind his words and was therefore oblivious to the fact that he was playing into Grimmjow's plan. He could always say that he wanted to save time and hot water when he stepped in to join the luscious little berry but he'd be lying.

As soon as the door closed, Grimmjow slunk to the desk to grab the soap he'd saved just for this. He felt giddy, unable to believe this was going to happen finally. Ichigo would hate him if he pushed too hard but he wasn't going to do that; he was going to do this slowly. Maybe he could sate himself seeing only that blushing face, the obviously heated body? His pants felt tight at the fantasy.

_Well, I'm screwed._

* * *

Hot showers were always a good thing for Ichigo. The steam and clean air made it easier to think and he had to think all the time whenever he was around Grimmjow for extended periods. He couldn't focus, his heart pounding too loudly in his ears and his palms sweating. He couldn't help all the moments he'd blush just because he'd realized Grimmjow had been staring – his hopes flying that the stare would mean something more.

However, tonight the atmosphere wasn't helping. His mind was muddled and he couldn't for the life of him straighten it out. He was in Grimmjow's home, Grimmjow was in the other room, and he couldn't help but take a bit too much notice in the fact that he, Ichigo Kurosaki, was completely naked and soaked down from the shower. It was painfully obvious that Grimmjow was probably not interested in men – Ichigo had never seen him with one like…_that_ – and so the idea that Grimmjow might even walk in on him…_You're too hopeful Kurosaki._

"Mind if I join you?"

_Mind shutting down_.

"Huh? G-Grimmjow! What a-are you doing in h-here!" He was backed up against a wall, his eyes wide and fearful. No way, no way…No fucking way! This wasn't happening; he was imagining it. Grimmjow was _not_ standing in front of him without clothes on, a wry smirk on his face, and looking at him like he was food.

"It's easier to just share the shower rather than have to wait for the water to heat back up after you finish," Grimmjow explained easily as he stepped into the spray. His blue eyes fell over Ichigo's frame, slowly mapping him out like he couldn't decide what to touch first or what to save for last.

_You must be imagining things; this can't be happening!_

Grimmjow's had rose to reveal a pink shape; a strawberry. Ichigo blushed.

"You get my back, I'll get yours?" Grimmjow pressed, sounding almost desperate. Ichigo felt his face heat up from more than the steam that surrounded them, making certain areas hard to see – _Thank God_, Ichigo thought. He nodded though and picked up a loofa from the tub side. Grimmjow smiled as he handed Ichigo the soap and turned around for him.

"Didn't know you went for this sort of soap," Ichigo muttered, managing to sound snide while he was really panicking. "Did Nel give it to you as some sort of joke?"

"Actually, it's what was left of the soap _we_ made. I melted it down and Nel let me use a soap mold she got – she may be starting a hobby involving soap for all I know." He shrugged and Ichigo had to try to not gulp too loudly as he watched those muscles shift.

"That's…wait…our soap? The one from class?" He was staring at it in surprise – he'd never expected to see that stuff again. He was so busy staring he didn't notice Grimmjow turning around until he was suddenly pressed against the wall again, Grimmjow's hand on his chest and those blue eyes looking hungry. "Grimmjow?"

"Smells nice, doesn't it?" Grimmjow husked in his ear. He opened his mouth to speak but words wouldn't form. "Not as good as you though."

_Mind Shutting Down…Again._

"W-what are you talking about Grimmjow? I smell normal you jerk." He wanted to sound mad but it came out weaker than he'd liked and Grimmjow's hand skimmed over his clavicle slowly, tickling his heated skin.

"No…you smell much better than 'normal.' You smell…" He buried his face against Ichigo's neck and breathed in deeply as Ichigo bit his bottom lip to avoid letting loose a moan of appreciation for the attention. "…Addicting; you smell addicting."

Lips rose to press themselves against a matching pair, and Ichigo's mind fell into an impossible level of blankness that he hadn't thought was ever possible. Grimmjow's hands slipped down his chest and side, fingers slowly mapping out every curve and dip he had to offer, teasing his nipples every so often, as he made the kiss seem eternal.

"You're already hard Ichigo," Grimmjow snickered softly when he let Ichigo breathe.

"S-so what? You are too."

"Hn? I guess so?" Grimmjow chuckled before he rocked his hips against Ichigo's making his sleepy expression awaken as his back arched and he moaned deeply. "You sound better than you smell. Though…I really thought it'd be fun to smell strawberries off you, this is better."

Ichigo couldn't think as Grimmjow slipped the soap from his hand – how he'd even held onto it was beyond him – and slid it up his body and then back down. He was turned into a writhing mess of hormones as Grimmjow's hand and mouth skimmed over him, masking what he was really aiming for. Ichigo didn't notice until he suddenly felt like he was being invaded.

"AH! That hurts!"

"New to this huh? Am I your first?" The finger wriggled a bit before being joined by another two. Ichigo clenched Grimmjow's shoulders tightly as he yelped, his knee rising in instinct, making entrance easier.

"Stop it…ah! It hurts!"

"Even with the soap and water? Man you really _are_ new at this…I appreciate the thought." Grimmjow pressed his lips to Ichigo's chin. "Trust me; it'll be better if you let me get you a little looser. It won't hurt nearly as much if you let me do this."

"Ah! No! S-stop it now!"

"And leave you like this? _That _would be cruel."

The fingers moved up, brushing something that made Ichigo gasp and shudder. Grimmjow smirked in triumph. He'd found it, that little sweet spot that made anyone melt into a mess of lust and pleasure. Ichigo looked even more breathtaking than his fantasies had imagined he would too which made the find even more pleasurable. Ichigo, the most stubborn kid Grimmjow had ever met and he was still human after all.

"See? Told you it'd feel good," Grimmjow chuckled as he pressed his lips against Ichigo's, using his body to hold them against the wall as his soap lathered hand dropped the strawberry shaped soap and moved for his own hard on. Once he was certain it was lathered well enough, he shifted Ichigo up the smooth wall and spread his legs a bit.

"Wait…" Ichigo gasped as Grimmjow's shaft tickled his hole but didn't enter. He gripped Grimmjow's shoulders and avoided eye contact. "Why? I've never even heard of you with men. Why me?"

"You're really the only one that's caught my eye," Grimmjow explained. "I've been waiting for this chance for a while Ichi; don't make me stop now, please." His teeth nipped at Ichigo's sensitive ears before he kissed them in apology. "Let me have you; all of you."

Ichigo blushed. How many times had he wished for that over the past month alone? He risked looking into Grimmjow's azure eyes only to find himself letting his mind drift back into an instinctual mode. He had to kiss him; he thought he'd die if he didn't.

Grimmjow smiled as Ichigo initiated a kiss that made the ones before it seem like sweet pecks. As Ichigo begged for entrance with his tongue, Grimmjow swiftly pressed himself into Ichigo's body. Ichigo's breathing hitched, his arms tightening around Grimmjow, his back arching him against Grimmjow's frame, and his legs coiling around Grimmjow's waist, sinking the bigger senior further inside him.

"Feel good?" Grimmjow asked proudly when Ichigo came up for air again, water cascading down his face hiding the fact that he was salivating a bit heavily from the kiss. He was panting, his cheeks a healthy red from the combined body heat and hot water. He barely managed a nod but it was enough to make Grimmjow smile and start to thrust into him, deeper and deeper with every rock of his hips.

"Aha!" Ichigo yelped when Grimmjow hit that spot again. He troubled his bottom lip as he buried his face in Grimmjow's neck. As much as he was enjoying it, he wasn't sure he wanted Grimmjow to see him so…undone seemed to be the closest word for it.

"Ichigo, show me your face. I want to see you made happy by me and me alone," Grimmjow whispered soothingly in his ear, his hips rocking up as Ichigo's rocked down unconsciously. Ichigo hesitated before lifting his head a bit, not enough for him to make eye contact but enough for Grimmjow to see him as he worried his lip. A thumb gently moved his lip from his teeth, lips quickly following to kiss the raw skin.

"Ah…Grimmjow…" Ichigo moaned as he connected with that spot again, his insides twisting a bit. He wasn't going to last.

"It's alright," Grimmjow breathed as he pressed his lips to Ichigo's again. "Go ahead; I'll follow you." Another rock and Ichigo screamed as he arched his back and released. Grimmjow groaned as Ichigo clenched around him in every way, pulling him down with him as he went.

They panted for a while, Grimmjow holding Ichigo up, as the water turned cold over their heated bodies. Ever so slowly, Grimmjow lifted Ichigo off him, holding him close despite the movement, and then he lowered both of their bodies down to the floor of the tub.

"Feel alright?" Grimmjow asked, actually worried. Ichigo nodded shakily.

"You have no idea how long I've been imagining this…it was better than I expected though."

"Same here," Grimmjow snickered as he pressed his lips against Ichigo's cheek. "Same here."

* * *

**Review?**


	3. Graduation

**Alright...Graduation...**

* * *

He was graduating.

Four years of the most boring place he'd ever experienced and it all culminated to this moment. He was going to be able to quit school all together if he so wished but he had plans; many plans. He was going to create an award winning club and he was going to have to have some business know how to do it. Besides, his friends were all going to be taking up schools that would teach them roughly the same things – bartending, accounting, advertisement, and so on.

Either way, they were getting out of Hueco Mundo High once and for all. He should feel good…he really should be feeling elated. Yet, he was pissed.

It just pissed him off that that damned Berry-Brained carrot top wasn't at graduation rehearsal. The kid had been in his classes for the past three years – he believes the little prick transferred in – carried a four-point-fucking-'o' and _still _hadn't shown up for rehearsal? Bastard!

It also pissed him off that the robes he'd expected to go down to his ankles only went to mid-calf and were supposed to cover three heights. Could that stupid company do anything right? They fucked over the class rings and now they were fucking people over with graduation gowns? Seriously? Fucking Seireitei and it's bullshitted products. Hallibel's girls couldn't stop cussing about how their class rings looked and felt like cheap engagement rings. Nnoitra and Ulquiorra couldn't stop staring at the oversized football type rings they'd ended up getting.

Ulquiorra had given his to Yammy in the end since it fit the bigger man better either way.

He shook his head, the white and black tassel whacking him in the face as he did it. He scowled at the white robe he wore as well in irritation. He hated white and was overly glad he wasn't the only one who'd worn a nice dress suit underneath the robe – he and his friends were all going out to dinner that night after the ceremony – so he wouldn't look like a complete idiot. Even some of the girls had come wearing dress pants rather than a short dress or a shirt.

"The junior escorts look nice," Nel said kindly as she sat herself next to her dear cousin. Her sea foam green hair was tied back to accommodate the graduation hat. Her tassel hung on the right of it as was tradition. Like him, her robe was on, zipped all the way up. Her strange birthmark was softened a bit by some concealer –her ever loving mother's doing most likely.

"Whatever," he growled.

He was already bored of the graduation crap and it wasn't even really starting yet. They'd all been told to show up on time – Nnoitra was sauntering in late as usual – been threatened with pat down searches that would take phones – the girls hid theirs in their bras as always but no one was being checked – and there was the fact that some people were too busy making sure their hair stayed nice with the hats on to bother to realize no matter what they did, they'd look stupid. This was even before he'd spotted a junior escort in his black tuxedo, a red and white boutonniere on his left collar. One of the girls came screaming in as well in a black dress and pretty shoes, her orange hair put up in a cute bun – Nel had been gushing over her.

He recognized some of the escorts easily enough – carrot top's friends – and was once more perturbed by the group. Red headed Renji had pulled his hair back into respectable braids, a smart looking fedora – injustice damn it all – covering his tattooed brow. The one who'd been spotted first was Chad, a towering giant with a mop of brown hair that usually covered his eyes. Today though, it had been combed back carefully, his brown eyes shining in the lighting. Orihime, the first girl he'd spotted, was wearing something that showcased her breasts without making them seem bigger than they really were (not as nice as Nel or as Hallibel's busts). The petite Rukia was dancing about in a more conservative black dress and dark shoes looking more like a proper little girl than a girl with more money than Bruce Wayne. Another boy, Uryuu, had opted out of the fedora like Chad but he had an undeniable presence about him – he looked fully grown up rather than a simple junior. He felt irritated that even Tatsuki looked like a bombshell in her own dark dress. Then again, Hallibel and Nel managed to make the gowns look fairly reasonable in their own way.

He was going to be so glad when he got that diploma.

"Junior escorts!" a teacher yelled from a doorway. The tuxedo laden children and conservatively dressed girls dashed to the door and disappeared to the gym where they'd all be lined up in their order and then moved to the arena where they'd be spoken to, encouraged, and then finally handed the diplomas. "Teachers and staff as well!"

"Grimmjow," Nel chimed gently. He looked at her, a few strands of unruly blue hair falling over his eyes as usual, the rest of his blue hair tucked away under the hat as well as he could manage.

"What is it Nel?"

"We're graduating!"

_She sounds a bit overly happy_, he thought. He smiled at her though and nodded. He couldn't get all that excited. He wanted to see the damned carrot top in the white robes and hat. He wanted to have a good damned laugh.

"Yeah…finally."

She giggled and bounced off to go cheer with Hal and her girls. Nnoitra, Ulquiorra, and Starrk were standing with them, listening and having their own conversation. Grimmjow glanced about for the familiar spiky orange hair only to not be able to find it. He guessed he was outside though and let it drop.

_I'm graduating._

"Alright everyone, let's get ready!" the student council teacher said through the microphone.

Grimmjow rolled his eyes and watched as the teacher tried to reign in stupid teenagers who were all too concerned with getting out of the school finally. He was near the end as to be expected but he _was_ the last in the row. Ulquiorra was nearer to the front, Starrk within a row or two of him, and Nnoitra a row away from Grimmjow. Hallibel was in the middle, her girls scattered about, and Nel was nearby to Grimmjow and Nnoitra.

He glanced down the row to spot Orihime and a boy whose face and hair were hidden by the fedora he wore speaking to each other. He sneered a bit at the happy look on the girl's face. He'd usually only seen that look on her face when she was speaking to the carrot top or about him. He felt like he should go over and strangle her.

Alright…he had to admit it. The Berry head _was_ good looking, shrewd, and knew how to take care of himself. Gym classes had made that fact abundantly clear when he was paired with the Berry for spars. In reality, he didn't really hate the kid; he wanted him. He wanted to have that person all to himself but it was becoming a bit obvious that the carrot top wasn't obtainable. It drove Grimmjow nuts knowing he _could_ have him if he wasn't missing some sort of clue as to _how_ to catch him.

A few minutes passed and then they were finally told they could go up the steps – they'd gotten seated with the front row in the back and back row in front – and proceed with life. He didn't bother to pay all that much attention to the cheering from the teachers and people they passed on their way in, focusing instead on getting to his seat and not killing himself on the steep steps of the arena. Could people make this place more irritating than it should have been this easily? Apparently so. Every stair seemed to have been shabbily put in and matched – some sections had small steps while others and longer ones. He was glad he wouldn't have to go to this particular university. The construction was pathetic.

He ignored the speeches, ignored the people cheering for their particular person as his row got nearer to being able to get out of their seats and move onto the stage. Pictures…he had to put up with pictures as he got up those steps. He could ignore that as well, he was good at faking smiles. Besides, why should he smile genuinely when the person he wanted more than anything wasn't going to be his?

Carrot top never _did_ say where he was going to college. He just shrugged and said he'd probably be going. There was no probably really; everyone knew he was going to be a doctor. That path was clear for him.

He stepped onto the stage as his name was called, smiling as he took the diploma case and shook hands with the hands of random administrators there quickly enough to seem happy but excited none the less. He strode down the steps – more step, rickety implanted stairs for the implanted stage they were using – and ignored the fact that Orihime and her pal were behind him. The row had moved down to fill their original seats anyway so he was prepared for that much. Thinking back, like the Berry, the male escort hadn't been at the rehearsal the day before either…_Slackers._

"Just a few more rows…we're done!" he heard Orihime say happily as she and her friend slipped into the row next to him, Orihime between him and the boy. She was smiling that smile. He hated that smile; the one she used on _him_. Grimmjow tried to not growl in irritation. He already knew she never got a smile in return – not one of the genuine ones at least.

Her friend simply nodded with a shrug.

Grimmjow nearly applauded the boy as they sat down, the row behind them gone already, the next one looking expectant. No Berry there though…no Berry anywhere that he could see. He wasn't pleased about that revelation. Where the hell was that idiot? He heard Orihime whispering to the boy again, watching as he simply answered with grunts or nods or shrugs. Most guys would be drooling over the chance to see Orihime that close; this one seemed indifferent. So very much like the carrot top.

Yeah…one reason Grimmjow was fairly sure that he probably had a chance was because Berry-Head always seemed a bit indifferent towards the girls who flocked to him – Nel and Hal included. He treated them as friends. He gave advice. Hell, Hal and Nel had once mentioned that he'd said something about how Nnoitra and Starrk looked at them. A few weeks later, Starrk and Hal were together as a couple and Nnoitra was suddenly asking Grimmjow how to get on – and stay on – Nel's good side.

Then again, Ichigo was also a bit of a tease. Maybe he was just playing hard to get or making himself more likable in female eyes? Grimmjow had a hard time believing that Ichigo was that kind of person though. He'd never seemed that way around Grimmjow at least. Around Grimmjow, he was calm and thoughtful. He could make it easier to think things through. He could breathe around Ichigo. It was nice. Where was that little prick?

They threw their hats, Grimmjow not really bothering to cheer as he freed the tassel and tossed the stupid thing. He was happy to be out though. He wanted nothing more than to be out of that damned, whitewashed school building. He was already sure that college was going to be better than he could hope; all he had to do was go and accept the invitation to attend. Simple enough.

Within moments, he was shuffled back into the gym where they'd started, and he'd grabbed his envelope with his diploma. He quickly shed the robe, tossing it into a trash bin as he moved for the front steps to wait for his friends. He couldn't believe the crowd there, people milling about aimlessly to greet and grab their kids or people in graduation robes of royal blue – Quincy High School – wondering how the hell to get in for their own graduation. Poor fucks.

As he waited, he watched as the Junior escorts gathered in little groups and sure enough, near the bottom of the steps and in the grass stood Ichigo's friends complete with the boy who'd been sitting next to Orihime earlier. Grimmjow watched them with a bit of envy. They were all smiling at each other and laughing about things. He hadn't noticed Keigo and Misurio earlier but there they were, along with a couple other girls he'd seen hang about Orihime and Tatsuki. Gossip hording Misurio looked good in the fedora he was wearing while Keigo whined – _loudly _– that he wanted to wear the hat.

As time dragged on, Grimmjow was joined by Hal, her girls Sun-Sun, Mila Rose, and Apache, and Nel. The girls huddled together near him and chatted as Ulquiorra slipped up to Grimmjow's side. Poison green eyes gazed down towards Orihime – as to be expected – while Grimmjow picked up Nnoitra calling Starrk a lazy ass near the girls. He could even hear Starrk yawning as his little sister – really little sister – bounded up the steps yelling her congratulations.

"You seem irate," Szayel stated smoothly. Grimmjow had forgotten he and his brother were graduating today as well. "What's wrong?"

"Berry Brain was a berry brain today," he muttered blandly as he ran a hand through his blue locks. Szayel hiked his white rimmed glasses up his nose – reminding Grimmjow greatly of Uryuu in the movement – and then glanced down to Ichigo's friends with a hiked up brow in amusement.

"Yes…indeed," he stated sarcastically like he was trying to not laugh at some strange knowledge of his. Grimmjow hated that tone. It was irritating and spoke of how smart the pink haired prick was in comparison to others. He hated being compared to others. "Well, the girls are ready to get moving – not that I blame them on that one. You came on your bike didn't you?"

"No…not in this suit – Nel would kill me….I came in my Jeep."

"Such a classic vehicle," Szayel crooned. Grimmjow ignored the patronizing sound of his tone. Jeeps were great cars damn it. Especially in such hilly country. He could get practically anywhere he needed to get to in it and it was probably better equipped than his motorcycle any day – considering the rain they could get.

"Don't judge me," he grumbled. "You guys can go ahead if you want…I'm going to look for Berry-head."

"You know…if you keep calling him that, he's more likely to punch you than kiss you," Sun-Sun sang softly from behind her sleeve covered hand. He wanted to stick his tongue out at her petulantly but he didn't, deciding to focus on Ichigo's friends. Maybe he'd show up sooner or later – please be sooner.

"See you all later then," Starrk stated easily as he began to usher them all off to the parking lot that was maybe a block away – and a rather dangerous intersection in the middle. Ulquiorra slid after them a bit slowly, eyes fixed on the well-endowed girl bellow them. Grimmjow waved as they disappeared into the crowd and then let his attention fall back onto the group of teens bellow his station.

Keigo was begging to try on someone's fedora again, being loud as always. Grimmjow scowled. How the hell did Ichigo put up with that idiot? Tatsuki yelled at him to shut up before glancing at the watch on her wrist and yelping that they were going to be late. She looked at the boy that Orihime's hip seemed to be glued to and asked him a question. He shook his head and bowed it in apology. The group gave him sad looks – Uryuu looking a bit relieved as he pried Orihime away – but left waving goodbye.

_He's…not here at all? Fuck…so much for trying to ask him out; like he'd have even said yes to it…_

"Bye guys!" the fedora wearing boy called as he waved with a bored shake of his wrist. Grimmjow twitched; he sounded exactly like Ichigo…he glared towards a distant wall of the building trying to get over the obvious imagination flare. He was hearing things because he wanted Ichigo to show up damn it. That was all it was.

"Fuck…" he sighed softly as he leaned against the stone wall separating him from the steep grass covered hill.

"You look miserable," Ichigo's voice chimed jokingly, closer this time. He wasn't going to answer. It wasn't the person he wanted to talk to anyway. "Fine…ignore me. I only waited for our collective friends to leave so I could _finally_ talk to you without interruption…"

_Don't answer…don't answer…don't answer._

"Hey," Ichigo growled, fingers snapping in front of Grimmjow's cerulean eyes. "Blueberry!" Son of a bitch…_no one _called him that.

"You little fucker," he snarled, hand shooting out grab the kid's shirt, his head finally turning to look at them. He blinked as warm chocolate eyes glowed with mirth and smug pride at him along with one of those rare genuine smiles.

"Hey Grimmjow," Ichigo chuckled as Grimmjow loosened his grip on his shirt. He straightened it a bit and flicked the brim of his fedora with a bit of strange pizazz that Grimmjow had never seen in him. It was like he knew that he looked hot so fuck the rest of the world.

"Ichigo…Where the hell did you come from?" Grimmjow was a bit surprised how angry he sounded even though it was probably justified.

"Didn't you recognize me earlier?" Ichigo asked a bit incredulous. Then he looked irritated. "Or were you looking only at Orihime's chest – like every other sick prick in the school?"

Grimmjow frowned. Ichigo already guessed that he was bi with a particular draw towards men when they'd managed to hang out for a few moments due to Nel and Hal inviting Orihime and Tatsuki who naturally dragged the rest of the group – Ichigo included. Ichigo had just guessed it out of the blue and Grimmjow had never really been able to recover.

"I wasn't staring at her," Grimmjow retorted weakly. "I was looking for you dumbass…why are you wearing an escort tux?"

"You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"That I'm a junior?"

Silence…Ichigo burst into laughter and Grimmjow felt his face heat up in rage and embarrassment. Ichigo was a junior? His underclassmen? When the hell…that certainly explained why Grimmjow had only seen him for three years but shit…Why hadn't he thought of that in the first fucking place?

"What grade did you _think_ I was in?" Ichigo laughed.

"I thought you were a senior like me damn it!" Grimmjow yelled, glad people were too busy with their own issues to notice him. He had a feeling he looked like a strawberry with his heated cheeks and embarrassed tingle racing up and down his spine like hackles.

"A senior? Really?" Ichigo chuckled, sobering. "I would have thought you would think I was a sophomore or something…"

"Why the hell would I think that?"

"You forget that Szayel's in your grade; always called him a freashie."

Grimmjow growled in frustration. "I thought you'd transferred in to the school alright?"

"And brought like ten people with me?"

Now that he thought about it…Ichigo's friends _had_ shown up at the same time as him.

"Wow…you really _don't _ pay much attention to things do you?" Ichigo asked with a snicker. Grimmjow bristled at that. He paid attention – he wouldn't be graduating if he didn't – but only when it really mattered. He'd listened to Ichigo talk all the time, memorizing all the stories of his certifiable father and cute sounding sisters as well as how the dog and cat seemed to be teaming up on him at times.

"I pay attention when I need to and you never said what grade you were in to begin with."

"I would have thought that was obvious."

"Well, it wasn't."

"That was a weak retort."

"Fuck you."

Just then Ichigo smiled a bittersweet smile that made Grimmjow's blood tingle with electricity. He knew he was blushing again but he knew that he didn't give a shit. As Ichigo smiled, Grimmjow missed him placing his hands on the stone on either side of Grimmjow's elbows and leaning closer until their lips touched. He blinked, not moving lest he was dreaming. Ichigo's brown eyes met his blue ones and waited for a moment before Grimmjow couldn't take it anymore and melded their lips closer, his tongue begging for entrance to Ichigo's mouth within moments. He was extremely glad when it was given.

"Not on the first date," Ichigo snickered after he pulled back. He tipped his hat as a smile grew on his face. "Call me when you want to go out with me for real right?" He turned to leave but Grimmjow caught his arm quickly and pulled him back up the hill.

"You read minds you know that?" he asked. Ichigo looked at him confused. He smiled. "I was looking for you to ask you out…it didn't start that way sure but in the end that's what I wanted to do."

"Cool," Ichigo smirked. "I wanted you to ask. What a nice setting you chose too. Too bad it's not as pretty as it could be what with your presence and all."

"Funny, I could say the same thing about you."

"Kiss or dinner?"

"Huh?"

"You want a kiss or dinner?"

"Can I choose both?"

"Maybe."

"Along with dessert?"

"Thought that came regardless."

"It'd better; I've been wanting to taste you for a while now."

* * *

**Review?**


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